Perpetual futures, the single most traded instrument in all of crypto, have finally crossed the regulatory threshold in the United States. Bitnomial Exchange self-certified the first bitcoin perpetual futures contracts under its Designated Contract Market status with the CFTC on April 23, 2025, with trading going live on April 28.
For years, “perps” have been the domain of offshore exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and OKX, where US traders technically weren’t supposed to be playing but, well, were.
What actually happened, and why perps matter
Unlike traditional futures that expire on a set date, perps never expire. They use a funding rate mechanism to keep the contract price tethered to the spot price, letting traders hold leveraged positions indefinitely.
Bitnomial’s contracts use eight-hour funding intervals to align with the mechanics traders are already familiar with from offshore venues. The contracts feature physical delivery, crypto settlement, and crypto margining. That’s a meaningful departure from the cash-settled Bitcoin futures that have been available on CME since 2017. Instead of settling in dollars, Bitnomial’s perps settle in actual Bitcoin, and traders post crypto as collateral.
